Tuesday, February 06, 2007

The others came to me quickly, easily. Clara was guileless, sharing all of her self through intense conversations that would last long into the night; unexpected considering how life had hollowed her out. When I woke, she’d resume talking in that melancholy way of hers, just a hint of a Rhode Island accent rolling off of her R’s. She needed me to tell her story.

Linus was a more patient conversationalist. He would wait until I settled myself on my ancient desk chair, a cup of coffee warming my hands, and then he’d start, Where was I now? Oh, yes… It never took long to write his chapters, I copied them verbatim as he spoke.

But Mike wasn’t used to sharing the particulars of his life. Not with anyone, not anymore. He was guarded, a ghost of the man he used to be. We, Mike and I, weren’t close friends; our talks weren’t conversations, but interviews. I would ask him questions and he would offer up one word answers. I’d have to ask him the same question cloaked as something altogether different to draw out a few more words or expression of sentiment.

Each of my characters needed to tell their stories from their points-of-view and while Clara and Linus were eager, Mike didn’t trust me. As a result, I didn’t trust his chapters.

When I announced at writers’ group that I was considering deleting Mike’s sections, I was more than halfway through the manuscript then, I remember Lynne waving her hand.

They trusted Mike and, because I trusted my writers’ group, Mike’s chapters stayed. Months later as I neared the final pages of my manuscript, I was grateful to have had that trust in my writers’ group. Contained within those last pages was a passage only Mike could tell. If I hadn’t listened to my writers group, trusted their judgment in a character who made me earn his trust, I don’t know if my story would have had as satisfying an end.

Don't misunderstand, it wasn't a matter of trusting the instincts of my writers' group over my own, it's more complicated than that. I believe my writer friends trusted me to tell the story, trusted that I would find my way through the thicket that is the middle of a novel. Or maybe they trusted that I could fix a narrative if it didn't work after all.

Thanks for stopping by, Shanna. You're so bold to change your entire life to pursue writing! I agree, I'm lucky to have this group. Perhaps there are some fellow students in your class with whom you could start a critique group. But not that instructor -- two books by 26? Gosh...

Lynne Griffin

Lynne’s debut novel, LIFE WITHOUT SUMMER will be published by St Martin's Press in April 2009. She is also the author of NEGOTIATION GENERATION Penguin, 2007.

Amy MacKinnon

Amy is the author of TETHERED (Shaye Areheart Books/Random House, August 2008). Her essays have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, and on NPR.

Lisa Marnell has been offered agent representation for her first novel. She is currently editing her second Young Adult novel.

Hannah Roveto is a national public relations and marketing expert, with freelance journalism credits that include The Boston Globe. She has completed revisions to her first novel and is seeking agent representation.